McMahon Syllabus English 1A Spring 2016
Office H121P
Office Hours: Mon and Wed: 2:30-3:45; Tuesday and Thursday: 12:30-1 and 3:30-4:15
Email: [email protected]
Course Catalog Description:
This course is designed to strengthen the students’ ability to read with understanding and discernment, to discuss assigned readings intelligently, and to write clearly. Emphasis will be on writing essays in which each paragraph relates to a controlling idea, has an introduction and a conclusion, and contains primary and secondary support. College-level reading material will be assigned to provide the stimulus for class discussion and writing assignments, including a required research paper.
Course Objectives:
- Recognize and revise sentence-level grammar and usage errors.
- Read and apply critical-thinking skills to numerous published articles and to college-level, book-length works for the purpose of writing and discussion.
- Apply appropriate strategies in the writing process including prewriting, composing, revising, and editing techniques.
- Compose multi-paragraph, thesis-driven essays with logical and appropriate supporting ideas, and with unity and coherence.
- Demonstrate ability to locate and utilize a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites.
- Utilize MLA guidelines to format essays, cite sources in the texts of essays, and compile Works Cited lists.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, students will:
1. Complete a research-based essay that has been written out of class and undergone revision. It should demonstrate the student’s ability to thoughtfully support a single thesis using analysis and synthesis.
2. Integrate multiple sources, including a book-length work and a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites. Citations must be in MLA format and include a Works Cited page.
3. Demonstrate logical paragraph composition and sentence structure. The essay should have correct grammar, spelling, and word use.
Students with Disabilities:
It is the policy of the El Camino Community College District to encourage full inclusion of people with disabilities in all programs and services. Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class should contact the campus Special Resource Center (310) 660-3295, as soon as possible. This will ensure that students are able to fully participate.
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism:
El Camino College places a high value on the integrity of its student scholars. When an instructor determines that there is evidence of dishonesty in any academic work (including, but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, or theft of exam materials), disciplinary action appropriate to the misconduct as defined in BP 5500 may be taken. A failing grade on an assignment in which academic dishonesty has occurred and suspension from class are among the disciplinary actions for academic dishonesty (AP 5520). Students with any questions about the Academic Honesty or discipline policies are encouraged to speak with their instructor in advance.
Attendance Policy: Students are expected to attend their classes regularly. Students who miss the first class meeting or who are not in regular attendance during the add period for the class may be dropped by the instructor. Students whose absences from a class exceed 10% of the scheduled class meeting times may be dropped by the instructor. However, students are responsible for dropping a class within the deadlines published in the class schedule. Students who stop attending but do not drop may receive a failing grade.
Student Resources:
- Reading Success Center (East Library Basement E-36)
Software and tutors are available for vocabulary development & reading comprehension. - Library Media Technology Center - LMTC (East Library Basement)
Computers are available for free use. Bring your student ID # & flash drive. There’s a charge for printing. - Writing Center (H122)
Computers are available for free use. Free tutoring is available for writing assignments, grammar, and vocabulary. Bring your student ID & flash drive to save work. Printing is NOT available. - Learning Resource Center - LRC (West Wing of the Library, 2nd floor)
The LRC Tutorial Program offers free drop-in tutoring. For the tutoring schedule, go to www.elcamino.edu/library/lrc/tutoring .The LRC also offers individualized computer adaptive programs to help build your reading comprehension skills. - Student Health Center (Next to the Pool)
The Health Center offers free medical and psychological services as well as free workshops on topics like “test anxiety.” Low cost medical testing is also available. - Special Resource Center – SRC (Southwest Wing of Student Services Building)
The SRC provides free disability services, including interpreters, testing accommodations, counseling, and adaptive computer technology.
Books You Need to Buy for This Class
Book One: Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, by Paul Fussell
Book Two: Acting Out Culture, 3rd edition, edited by James S. Miller
Book Three: Rules for Writers, 8th edition by Diana Hacker
Other Materials You Need: 3 large size blue books for in-class exams
Total Words Written in Semester: 8,000
Three In-Class Essays, 500 words, 75 points each, 225 points total
Essay 1 from Acting Out Culture is 1,000 words
Essay 2 from Acting Out Culture is 1,000 words (we’ll discuss options during lectures)
Essay 3 from Acting Out Culture is 1,000 words (we’ll discuss options during lectures)
Essay 4 Class: A Guide Through the American Status System is 1,000 words
Peer Edit Rough Draft for Final is the essay's first 1,000 words (of 1,500) Failure to bring the rough draft to peer edit class day results in 25-point deduction from essay.
Essay 5: Final Argumentative, 1,500-Word Research Paper Based on Chapter 4 “How We Learn” from Acting Out Culture (approx. 5 pages) 150 points
Attendance
Gold Standard: You miss one class or less; you are tardy once or less, and you show up to class prepared to discuss the readings because you are keeping up with the readings. 50 points.
Silver Standard: You miss two classes; you are tardy once or less, and you show up to class and show evidence of keeping up with the readings. 40 points.
Bronze Standard: You miss three classes; you are tardy once or less, and you show up to class and show evidence of keeping up with the readings. 30 points.
Students who miss more than 3 classes and/or consistently show up to class without doing the reading get ZERO attendance points.
Grand Point Total: 825
Late papers reduced a full grade. No late papers accepted a week past due date.
You Must Use turnitin to submit essay and bring hard copy on due date
Each essay must be submitted to www.turnitin.com where it will be checked for illegal copying/plagiarism. I cannot give credit for an essay that is not submitted to this site by the deadline.
The process is very simple; if you need help, detailed instructions are available at http://turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/student-quickstart-guide
You will need two pieces of information to use the site:
Class ID and Enrollment Password, which I will give you first week of class
Classroom Decorum: No smart phones can be used in class. If you’re on your smart phone and I catch you, you get a warning the first time. Second time, you must leave the class and lose 25 points. Third time, you must leave the class and lose 50 points. The above also applies to talking and doing homework from other classes.
Essays 1-3 will be based on options discussed in class.
Essay 4 based on Class by Paul Fussell
In a 4-page typed essay, support or refute the argument that your matriculation through college, and the major you have chosen (or not), is inextricably entwined with the class status anxieties analyzed in Paul Fussell’s Class. In other words, argue for or against the idea that fear of falling short of America’s status system—a code system that is much more complicated than income level alone—is a significant driving force in your college studies. What evidence is there, or not, that you are beholden to class status codes? What evidence is there, or not, that you have rejected America’s class status script and have carved your own path, so that you love learning for its own sake? Are you an aspiring bourgeois consumer? Are you an “X person”? Explain. Successful essays will show a clear and accurate reading comprehension of Paul Fussell's Class by integrating the book's major principles into your essay. You must have a Works Cited page referring to Class, and two other sources.
Alternative Option:
In a 4-page essay, defend, refute, or complicate Fussell’s assertion that class is not as mobile as the American Dream purports it to be; rather, social class is more fixed like a caste system. Successful essays will show a clear and accurate reading comprehension of Paul Fussell's Class by integrating the book's major principles into your essay. You must have a Works Cited page referring to Class, and two other sources.
Essay 5, Your Final Research Paper: Chapter 4 “How We Learn” from Acting Out Culture (Choose One Below)
First Option
In a 5-page essay, not including Works Cited page, support, refute, or complicate the argument that the assigned selections from Chapter 4 evidence that American education is more about protecting private business interests, maintaining class bias, and asserting mass control than it is about promoting real empowerment such as critical thinking, independence, and freedom.
Second Option
In a 5-page essay, not including Works Cited page, support, refute, or complicate Alfie Kohn’s argument from “Degrading to De-grading” that the American grading system is a travesty of education that kills learning, compromises teaching, and entails other kinds of abuses.
Your guidelines for your Final Research Paper are as follows:
This research paper should present a thesis that is specific, manageable, provable, and contestable—in other words, the thesis should offer a clear position, stand, or opinion that will be proven with research.
You should analyze and prove your thesis using examples and quotes from a variety of sources.
You need to research and cite from at least five sources. You must use at least 3 different types of sources.
At least one source must be from an ECC library database.
At least one source must be a book, anthology or textbook.
At least one source must be from a credible website, appropriate for academic use.
The paper should not over-rely on one main source for most of the information. Rather, it should use multiple sources and synthesize the information found in them.
This paper will be approximately 5-7 pages in length, not including the Works Cited page, which is also required. This means at least 5 full pages of text. The Works Cited page does NOT count towards length requirement.
You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
You must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.
You must sustain your argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Your paper must be logically organized and focused.
Reading and Writing Schedule
1-18 Holiday
1-20 Introduction, syllabus, turnitin.com, Essay 1 Writing Options (START NOW), importance of critical thinking
1-25 Acting Out Culture selections from 1-25 to 3-21: “Markets and Morals 40-49” and “Our Baby, Her Womb”418-430 ; writing your thesis, fragments
1-27 In-Class Essay of 500 words in bluebook for 75 points.
2-1 “How the Poor Are Made to Pay for Their Poverty” 380-385 and “Why I Make Terrible Decisions” online essay by Linda Tirado; paragraphs and PEEL method, MLA in-text citations, comma splices
2-3 Typed Essay 1 Due. “People Like Us” 62-67; types of thesis; pronoun errors
2-8 “The Great White Way” 68-70; “Flip Side of Internet Fame” 90-92; Top 20 Writing Errors
2-10 “Unspeakable Conversations” 96-112; Methods of Introductions and Conclusions
2-15 Holiday
2-17 “Green Guilt” 25-30; “Understanding Black Patriotism” 52-55; importance of brainstorming, dangling modifiers
2-22 “How Companies Learn Your Secrets” 134-149; signal phrases, PEEL paragraphs, clauses and phrases
2-24 Typed Essay 2 due; “Prudence Or Cruelty?” 172-175; counterarguments, paragraph transitions, parallelism
2-29 “Wages of Sin” and “Eat Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem” 181-202; essential and nonessential clauses
3-2 “Is Anorexia a Cultural Disease” online essay by Carrie Arnold; “The Repugnant Myth of the Poor’s Unhealthy Eating Habits” online essay by Kali Holloway; “Obesity-Hunger Paradox” 219-222; subordination and coordination
3-7 “The Quagmire of Social Media Friendships” 444-448; “The Flight from Conversation” online essay by Sherry Turkle; mixed sentence structure, appositives
3-9 “The Empathy Deficit”; “Sherry Turkle’s ‘Reclaiming Conversation’” online book review by Jonathan Franzen; 464-469; possessive case
3-21 “The Touch-Screen Generation” 484-499; comma rules
3-23 Typed Essay 3 due; Paul Fussell’s Class 15-23; review grammar errors
3-28 Paul Fussell’s Class 24-75; who and whom
3-30 Paul Fussell’s Class 76-127; subject-verb agreement
4-4 Paul Fussell’s Class 128-188; passive and active verbs
4-6 In-Class Essay 2 for 75 points
4-11 Typed Essay 4 due; Acting Out Culture “From Degrading to De-Grading” 238-249; argumentative thesis and the dialectical method; beginning your research
4-13 Acting Out Culture “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong” 252-270; writing a draft, invention, prewriting, research, planning, and composing; finding database sources
4-18 Acting Out Culture “Against School” 271-279”; evaluating sources; constructing arguments and effective thesis statements
4-20 Acting Out Culture; “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” 287-295; annotating, summarizing, and paraphrasing sources; framing the debate in your introduction
4-25 Acting Out Culture; “Blue-Collar Brilliance” 280-286; integrating sources into your research paper; using signal phrases
4-27 Acting Out Culture “Preparing Minds for Markets” 301-314; documenting sources in MLA format; revising
5-2 Acting Out Culture Chapter 6 Review; research paper checklist; Works Cited format; revise thesis statements in class
5-4 In-class writing exam #3 based on Acting Out Culture, Chapter 6
5-9 Peer Edit: Your first 1,000 words of Final Essay Due; evaluating database sources
5-11 Final 1,500-word essay due
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